


A Game of Chat and Bug

by ImSorry



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, lucky charm zine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26970379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImSorry/pseuds/ImSorry
Summary: My submission for the Lucky Charm Zine!  Adrien and Marinette figure out the other's identity at the same moment, but neither can admit to the other that they know!  Watch two oblivious idiots make fools of themselves in the name of secrecy.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 7
Kudos: 71





	A Game of Chat and Bug

Adrien figured out that Marinette was Ladybug on his own. He hid to detransform after a fight and replayed that familiar feeling of passing the lucky charm, an umbrella. He was used to the movement, of course. The two had defended Paris on a near-daily basis for years, but this felt more… significant, he thought as he dropped into a nearby alley. 

He called out to Plagg as the first drop of rain fell on his head, and by the time the transformation wore off, he recalled that day, almost four years ago, when he passed another umbrella off in the rain. He heard Plagg asking if he was planning catching a cold, and somehow, he felt himself walking home. He spent the next two days processing the fact that Ladybug, love of his life and hero of Paris, was also Marinette, cutest girl in school.

Marinette discovered that Adrien was Chat Noir when she dropped into the alley a minute earlier, and he had been too distracted to notice that she was there. It took her about a week to process. 

“She didn’t want me to know,” Adrien reminded Plagg repeatedly in the following week, “I can’t betray her trust.”

“I’ve been the one insisting we keep our identities secret,” Marinette lamented to Tikki for days on end, “if I tell him that I know I’ll be a total hypocrite!”

“Well,” Tikki eventually responded, “if you don't want to tell him right out there's a very simple way to solve this problem.”

“What's that?”

“You can ‘accidentally’ let the secret slip yourself.”

“You mean reveal my identity?” Adrien exclaimed in his room. “I can't do that Plagg, she'll be so disappointed.”

Plagg shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like you can stop knowing.” 

Eventually, the kwamis wore them down.

About two weeks after the initial discoveries, an explosion sent shockwaves through Paris. The entire school shuddered, and students immediately ran to the new earthquake shelter. Adrien kept an eye on Marinette as they ran, knowing she would be running for cover. Sure enough, she ran for the locker room while everyone was distracted by the danger. He waited a few seconds before bursting through the door.

“It’s a good thing I managed to ditch my best friend Nino pretty quickly, Plagg,” he performed for the audience of one. “Now quick I better transform and help Ladybug. Claws out!”

Ladybug, transformed behind a locker, stared aghast at the transformation in front of her. Had he always been this careless? Well, maybe she could use this to her advantage. She looked around for a second and saw her bag sitting by her feet. Quickly, she slung it over her shoulder and sauntered out from her hiding place.

Chat Noir put on his best surprised face. “Oh no, Ladybug! I didn’t realize anyone was in here.”

Ladybug would have noticed his weak acting if she were not focusing intently on her own. “Chat Noir, I almost didn’t see you there.” 

She looked down pointedly at her bag and pressed her hands to her face. “Oh no, I forgot to put this bag away!”

Chat bit back a laugh. How had he never noticed her signature clumsiness spilling into her superhero persona? “It belongs in this locker here.” He pointed to Marinette’s locker, right next to him. “At least I think it does; looks like a pretty cool Marinette original.”

Ladybug’s face threatened to match her outfit. “Thank – goodness you know that!” She quickly caught herself. There was such a thing as too obvious, she thought.

Another rumble shook the city.

“We should go,” Ladybug decided, aiming her yoyo out the window.

“Right, saving the city and all.” Chat followed behind her.

This was going to be harder than they thought.

The next day, Marinette nervously walked down the street toward the school. “You’ve got this!” She whispered to herself. “All you have to do is reveal your secret identity to the most amazing, beautiful, perfect boy in the entire world… Oh gosh Tikki I can't do this!”

“Just breathe, Marinette!” Tikki whispered before nuzzling deeper into Marinette’s purse.

Nodding, Marinette took a deep breath. “I can do this,” she whispered before marching into the building.

Marinette loitered by her locker for a few minutes, trying to look busy until Adrien walked in. She mustered up all of her courage to shout “Hi Adrien!” across the room. He looked up, startled, then waved. Marinette waved back with a cookie in her hand. Adrien approached her.

“Is that for me?” He looked pleasantly surprised, and Marinette felt a little guilty teasing him with a sweet treat.

“Oh, um this?” She put on her best surprised face, as if she hadn’t realized that there was anything in her hand. “I was just putting this in my bag for later. Sometimes a snack helps me focus during class.”

Adrien smiled. He knew it was a lie, but couldn’t say it. “Well, it looks tasty. I’ll _cat_ chya around.” 

Marinette was too proud of her plan to notice the pun. Adrien walked away with an undeniably Chat-like pout on his face.

When there was no one within earshot, Marinette poked her head into her locker. “I think that went well, Tikki!”

“Why is it important that he knows you have a cookie?”

Marinette held up her finger dramatically, bursting with pride at her plan. “Later, when I’m with Chat, I’ll make sure to comment on how much my kwami loves cookies. He’ll remember that I have them in my bag all the time, and before long he’ll have pieced it together!”

“Oh wow, Marinette,” Tikki lied, “that’s a great plan!”

Adrien saw Marinette walk into the classroom. He quickly started his pencil rolling toward the side of his desk, hoping he timed it right. As she walked by, it crossed the edge of the desk, and he shot out his arm to catch it. She froze, which wasn't unusual. 

“That was close,” he said.

“Yeah,” Marinette shifted uncomfortably. “Good reflexes.”

“Some would say _cat like_ ,” he urged, raising an eyebrow.

“I didn't say Chat!” Marinette practically lunged for her seat and threw her bag in front of her face.

Alya nudged her friend. “That was harder to watch than usual. Is something up?”

Marinette sighed and relaxed her shoulders. Well, maybe Alya could help. “Yeah, could we talk about it during lunch?”

Nino buried his head in his hands. “Babe, how do we make this work?”

“We just have to be smart.” 

Alya paced in front of him with a tablet in hand, scribbling out ideas. “So, Marinette wants to get to know Adrien without trying to ask him out, which sounds like a much easier way for her to get a normal sentence out.”

“And Adrien randomly decided he’s got a crush on her, but wants to find out if she might like him before making a move.”

“But we’re both sworn to secrecy.”

“Which means we just need to create some situation that would let Marinette get a full sentence out that Adrien could interpret as a declaration of love.”

“I think our friends have lost it.”

“I think we have too, honestly.”

They had been at it for months, this back and forth game of chat and bug. There had been little progress on either side for obvious reasons to which they were both oblivious. There seemed to be little else that would work at this point, and both Marinette and Adrien had all but resigned themselves to a lifetime of internal screaming. And then, out of the blue, fate seemed to step in and help them out.

Or at least, Nino and Alya did them a solid.

The four sat together for lunch. The jumpiness had all but subsided, and the stress was mostly manageable. Alya and Nino had taken control of the conversation, recounting their whirlwind romance in an attempt to inspire their best friends. The others were nodding along quietly, both zoned out trying to think of a way to drop a new hint. Nothing seemed to be working.

“Yeah, getting trapped at the zoo was the best thing that could have happened for us romantically,” Nino chuckled.

Alya smiled widely, catching his angle. “You’re right! We wound up talking about videography since it was a thing we had in common.” She looked pointedly at Marinette. “Although we both appreciate different parts of it.”

Marinette and Adrien snapped back to the conversation. That might not be the worst idea, they thought simultaneously. Maybe they could use a more direct approach.

Later that night, Adrien retired to his room earlier than normal. As soon as the coast was clear, he turned to Plagg excitedly. 

“Tonight is the night, I can feel it!”

Plagg looked characteristically bored. “Isn’t that what you said the last hundred times?”

Adrien raised his pointer finger dramatically, to match the smug look on his face. “This plan actually comes from Alya and Nino, and they have the best romance of anyone I know.” 

Tikki rolled her eyes. Even she had run out of steam with this whole debacle.

“And,” Marinette continued, “I’ve been laying out clues for months. Even Chat isn’t going to miss something this clear.” She sighed dreamily as she finished organizing her desk space. “After tonight, everything will be out in the open.” Marinette looked at the clock. “Okay, it’s close enough. Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug was surprised to find that Chat was even earlier to their meetup than she was. 

“Someone was eager tonight,” he laughed.

“I needed some fresh air, I figured getting here early would be a nice break. I’ve been busy with a project.”

Chat smiled. “I know what you mean, my job has been exhausting lately.”

“Right, with fashion week coming up.” Ladybug nodded. 

Chat furrowed his brow. “What does that have to do with me?”

Ladybug’s eyes widened in horror, realizing she had slipped. After all the clues she had dropped, this is what he chose to pick up on? “Oh, well any sort of business is going to be busy with the hosting and the catering and the traffic and all that. I know fashion week employs a lot of Parisians.”

Chat sighed. “Yeah, makes sense.”

There was a moment of silence. 

“That must uh,” Chat struggled for words that wouldn’t shut her down again. “That must be what your project is for then?”

Ladybug looked anywhere but him. “Mm-hmm. I’m, ah, entering a young designer’s contest.”

For once Chat was glad she wasn’t looking at him. He knew he couldn’t hide the pride on his face. “If anyone deserves to win it’s you.”

Blushing, Ladybug finally found the courage to look him in the eye. “That means a lot coming from you.”

The two stared at one another for what felt like an eternity, willing the words on the tips of their tongues to just burst out of them. With a single sentence, they could change everything. But, after all this time, the risk had become too great. As if reading one another’s minds, they wordlessly began a patrol. What was left to say, anyway?

The two ended the night on a rooftop, staring off over the Seine. 

“Do you ever wish things were easier?” Chat asked suddenly.

Ladybug found herself nodding. They both sighed.

“Well,” Chat groaned, getting up to stretch his legs. “It’s getting pretty late. I’ve got a test in the morning after all.”

Ladybug smirked despite herself. “So do I, what a coincidence.”

Chat nearly tripped over himself in excitement. “Do you think so,” he asked, maybe a bit less subtly than he had anticipated.

Ladybug, frazzled, practically shouted back “I don’t know, do you?”

They both looked at the other for a minute, hoping to see that look of realization cross the other’s face. When it didn’t happen, they both averted their eyes in frustration.

“Anyway, I better go. See you tomorrow Marinette.”

“Goodnight, Adrien.”

They both froze mid-leap, the other’s words registering.

**Author's Note:**

> The format in the zine is so cute, check it out here! You'll also find works by so many other great artists and writers that I had a blast working with!
> 
> https://luckycharmzine.tumblr.com/post/629544766349115392/the-zine-is-here-after-months-of-hard-work-from


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